Federal investigators say a sonogram image captures the pregnancy that wasn’t, calling it one piece of a deceptive plot which preyed upon families nationwide.

“We see a lot of fraud and it's hard to compare one to other,” said U.S. attorney Sandy Coates. “I'll tell you this, this one was absolutely diabolical.”

Court records show claim that for three years she posed as a pregnant mother, pulling in close to $50,000 from parents planning to adopt. The money paid her rent, utilities, food, everything she needed, nine months at a time.

“The hopes and dreams of those families were absolutely dashed at the end,” explained Coates. “She either lied to them saying she would keep the baby or something had gone wrong with the pregnancy.”

Investigators say she pulled off her story at least five times. Using her computer, Henson created a fake baby, fully equipped with doctored blood work and positive lab results. She even went so far as to invite prospective mothers into a delivery room, despite knowing there was no baby to begin with.

The evidence fooled parents as far as Florida and local adoption agencies too.

“While there are risks to adoption, no one expects to be treated this way in as cruel a fashion as this,” said Debbie Nomura with Tulsa’s Family Heritage Services. “To be coldly taking money and not even be pregnant.”

An FBI investigation led to Henson's indictment last August including 18 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, and misuse of a Social Security number.

Henson pulled off the entire hoax with her tubes tied, investigators said. Part of Henson's sentence includes paying every cent of that nearly $50,000 back to the parents she defrauded. Meanwhile, several adoption agencies say they're making policy changes hoping to prevent being fooled again.

The FBI claimed Henson taught others how to pull off the adoption scheme. The investigation credits her for teaching an Oklahoma City couple arrested in November 2011 for a similar crime.

Copyright 2013 byKOCO.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.